Author Archive

The weather here is crazy. It got up in the 80s two days ago and so we opened up all the windows (didn’t want to turn on the air conditioner for one day) and that night it dropped down into the 40s, so I got up and closed all the windows in the middle of the night. We were comfortable throughout that day, but the next night, I had to turn on the heat as it got down to 60 inside the house and Noelle still isn’t able to stay under her blanket, so she was cold when I checked on her. I put the blankets back on her and that’s when I decided to turn the heat on since the temp would probably drop farther during the night anyway. Turning it off for the daytime and we’ll see how it goes tonight. We were wearing capris and short sleeves one day and long pants and sweatshirts the next. I haven’t put our winter clothes away yet and have only gotten out a few of the summer stuff. I’m thinking that closer to the end of May will be the best time to actually switch out the clothes.

One good thing… both the gas and electricity bills should be lower for next month.

Jeremy’s 15 seconds of fame was pulled by the user on YouTube.

I posted pics of the flowers and other nature stuff from our treasure hunt last week on my flickr. There’s also some pictures from a drive we took up Lake Shore Drive two weeks ago when it was really foggy. When we get our flower identification book, I will update the pictures with the names.

He’s enjoying working for Google… see how they spend their days…

He’s the guy who shoots the Spam!

Today, the cats have been at the open kitchen window watching the birds and squirrels. We’ve stopped by there to pet them and all. Amie saw a bird that she didn’t know what it was, so we got out a really old bird book (from when I was little, I got it from my parents a few years ago) and we found that it was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. It’s a pretty bird. This was the first time we’ve really used this book, but I want to use it more often. We’ll take it along the next time we visit the Nature Center. Maybe we can go in the morning and sit in their bird watching room. We’ll see.

My brother-in-law wrote about grace and how it is seen in a great operetta. I enjoyed his comparison.

It was a small class called Cottontails. It was about rabbits. James only had an hour of scouts instead of his usual 2 hours, so he was able to attend it as well. I took Noelle along too, even though she was a little young. She sat on my lap and just listened.

The teacher was a woman who used to work at another nature preserve, specifically with the rabbits. She told some interesting stories about rescuing nests of bunnies from school yards and playgrounds. Did you know that a bunny is able to be on his/her own by 3 weeks? I thought it was around 2 months, but I was wrong. That is fast. After telling the kids some facts about bunnies, she read a story and then the kids made pictures. I helped Noelle and one of the ranger ladies helped AnnaBeth a little though she was impressed by how much AnnaBeth could do by herself. All the kids really enjoyed it. I need to check and see when the next class is.

Amie and Christine are interested in doing the summer day camps they are having. They will be one week for 2 hours in the morning. I think I will enroll them in those. James will be doing the day camp that our church is sponsoring, mostly because a lot of it will be focusing on things he needs for scouting. I would like to get Noelle and AnnaBeth into something as well, but we’ll see. Maybe the artsy day camp that the park system is offering. We’ll see.

The kids and I have been enjoying the warm spring days… now that they are finally here. This last week was in the 70’s. We went out to the Nature Center one day last week a little later than we were expecting (4:00) and found that they close the trails and building at 4:30 and the park at 5:00, so we just went into the building for a little while, then walked out into the butterfly garden and inspected the little green spikes that will be flowers later. Then we headed over to the nature preserve park a mile or so away that stays open until sunset. Unfortunately, not 5 minutes after we got there, Jeremy texted me to tell me that he was waiting at the train station. He usually lets me know which train he’ll be taking so I can be there when it arrives, but he forgot that day. Anyway, I made him wait 20 minutes so the kids could run around a bit.

This week, we did most of our chores and schoolwork before lunch on Tuesday and then headed out to the Nature Center again. This time, I brought the camera and we took the wildflower path. We did a photo treasure hunt to find as many different flowers as we could. The kids also had me take pictures of a few different leaves they found that they want to look up. We need to get the books for those. I like teaching them how to use the internet for these things, but I think books are great too, especially since we can take them with us on hikes. For these ones, we are waiting until we are able to get to a bookstore and get identification books before we find out what they are. They found out what some were because the wildflower path had signs here and there telling the different types they had in that area, but others are unknown. After the hike, we went into the building and the turtles in the tank were amusing them. Christine saw the one turtle was up on the rock near the sunlight, warming himself and she went over to the glass near it’s head and started moving her hands up and down. The turtle followed her hands. The other two turtles swam on over and started following her hands too. It was interesting. They were so alert. Next, we headed out to the butterfly garden and saw daffodils and some pretty little white moths flying around. There are other flowers coming up as well, but no buds yet. As we were walking around, we found a mandible bone of some small animal and took it in to the rangers inside. They think it is opossum because of size and the teeth were carnivorous. While in the building before we left, we took a look over at where all the bird houses and feeders are to see if we saw any birds, but alas… there were none there. We went over to the Forest Preserve again after we were done there. We went to another part of it this time. James took his rollerblades and practiced in the parking lot while the girls went out to run among the trees. They found a recycle bin there for plastic and aluminum, so they went around finding trash in the park, some of which went into one of those slots and some of which went into the nearby trash receptacle. The small area we were in got cleaned up fairly well.

Oh, while we were there, we noticed that the Nature Center has a summer camp. Amie really wants to go to that. We’ll see. AND that they are having a thing for kids from K-4th grade this Saturday which I think I will bring Amie, Christine, and AnnaBeth to. It is during James’ Cub Scout meeting and he’ll be busy on a food drive at our church during that time. I think the Saturday after that is when the Prince Caspian movie thing will be at the Family Bookstore, so we have something for the next two weekends.

It’s my mother-in-law’s! I love her paintings. They are so beautiful. I think she’ll be adding on some quilling sometime too.

I think I have the post vacation blahs. I’ve had a hard time since coming back up here.

It may change soon. I have something that may potentially be a comforting thing for me to do sometimes, plus it will help me with figuring out songs for the church’s Children’s Choir. I’ll let you all know when I’ve got more details (and maybe pictures too, if all goes well.)

I got a Shelfari account and started putting books on there that I have read and loved. I realized how broad my reading is. I like such a variety of authors, from Terry Pratchett to Dee Henderson to Louisa May Alcott. Terry Pratchett’s humorous fantasy series of Discworld is my choice when I need a good pick-me-up and a laugh. I like other fantasy as well. Elves, dragons, and such are so fun to imagine about. A few other authors of these that I enjoy are Terry Brooks and the Christian author, Donita K. Paul. Dee Henderson’s Christian suspense thrillers and other various authors in murder mysteries are great for when I want to think. Louisa May Alcott and L.M. Montgomery are for when I want to read old-fashioned stories. I also like some of the Christian romance authors, like Janette Oke, for when I want a simple love story with no graphic physical encounters (if you know what I mean.) I like the way her books focus on loving who the person is more than what they look like and that is what I look for in a Christian romance novel. If you know of an author who writes like that, let me know, I don’t have enough of those for when I get in a sappy mood. I tried science fiction, but it was incomprehensible to me. I just didn’t understand it nor enjoy it much. I tried a few different books and one of the sci-fi mysteries, The Caves of Steel, by Isaac Asimov was kind of interesting, but still wasn’t enough to make me want to read more.

Anyway, if you have any new author suggestions for me, I would love to try them out.

First, the pictures start with a sunset that we saw on Sunday night, next are flowers I took pictures of while down there. I haven’t played around with those pictures yet, but plan on doing something with a few of them. After that, begins our adventure. It is mostly in the order of what we did… from Monday to Saturday and our trip home, but Flickr flipped a few orders around while uploading, so some are a bit out of their place. That’s okay though.

I’ll just go day to day on here. We left at 4:30 pm on Friday, March 28th, after picking Jeremy up from the train station and dropping the cats off at the boarding place. We bought the kids special sippy cups for the car, so they would have non-spillable cups in the van. I bought a gallon of lemonade for $1.49 and we just poured it in their cups during different stops. It lasted for both the trip down and back up, since we didn’t need much for the trip down since they slept most of that time. That saved us a LOT of money. We didn’t have to buy drinks at our meals.

On our way down, we had a few detours/pauses, so we didn’t get there until 4:00 am our time, 5:00 am there. There was an exit closed in Louisville, KY with no warning and we had to find our own detour which took an hour. Then there was a wreck on I-40 just west of the NC border on our side of the interstate. It wasn’t too bad, just the front bumper and a few other front pieces of an SUV were ripped off, but parts of those were scattered all over both eastbound lanes, so they had to shut it down to clean it up. We sat there for at least half an hour. Jeremy put his seat back and caught a quick nap. The good thing was that this woke the kids up, so by the time we got to my parents’ house about an hour later, they were ready to lay back down.

On Saturday, we just rested a bit. We did head over to Asheville for a little bit to get some shoes for Jeremy and Noelle. Jeremy’s were worn out and would have been no good for hiking and Noelle’s were getting too small. When we moved, I either threw out or gave away all shoes that weren’t fitting the kids at that time, so I had to buy Noelle new shoes this time.

On Sunday, we went to the early service, which is a Praise and Worship service at my parents’ church. It was nice. After the service, we attended Sunday School. We were in a class that was just starting to study the story of the prodigal son. It sounded like it is going to be a good study. After church, we went home and a few of us changed into different clothes before heading out to a nice little buffet in Waynesville, NC. I kind of napped in the afternoon and then we went back to the church for a youth sponsored dinner of sloppy joes. They started showing Cheaper By the Dozen 2, but we didn’t care for it too much. Too many times of focusing on female chests, so we left and let the kids watch an Adventures in Odyssey movie at the house.

On Monday, I did a few loads of laundry in the morning and went outside and tried the swing that my dad and James put up this last summer when James was visiting them. In the afternoon, my mom came home from work and watched the kids while Jeremy and I walked around downtown Waynesville and explored a used book store. I found a book there that I’ve wanted but couldn’t find, so I was happy.

On Tuesday, we went to Dillsboro, NC. It was somewhat closed up because the tourist season hasn’t really started yet, but it was still pretty to walk around. We stopped into a pottery shop and watched a guy make what I think was a vase. I forgot to take pictures though because I was holding Noelle so she could see and talking to her about it. After Dillsboro, we headed over to Sylva and stopped at a playground there. The kids got a good amount of energy out while there.

On Wednesday, my friend Colwyn met us in Cherokee, NC. We hiked up to Mingo Falls and then went to a park there (the name of which I think starts with an O, but I can’t remember it) After wandering through the bamboo forest there and letting the kids throw rocks in the river and play in some sand, we walked around a little of the touristy shops and got the kids ice cream (pretzel for James). It was nice seeing him again. I’ve known him since my freshman year in college. He was in the choir with me back then and good friends with my roommate the second semester, so I got to know him fairly well back then. He found me through the internet later and we’ve been good friends since.

On Thursday, both my parents took the day off. Mom stayed home with AnnaBeth and Noelle. The rest of us went up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike. It was very foggy up there, so there was no view to see, but that helped us focus more on the things close to us, like the dew drops on some budding plants and all those little streams that criss-crossed the path. I took a bunch of pictures and had to dump all my pics onto a CD because I used up all the memory on my camera’s card that day and wanted room for more. This was Christine’s first big hike and she did really well. She was tired out by the time we were done and had gotten the bottom of her pants wet in the stream, but she really enjoyed it. Just as we got done, the rain started. We got a little wet, but not too bad. Because of the fog, there was hardly any traffic on the Parkway. We stopped in the middle of the tunnel and I got out of the van and took this picture, which I totally love. That’s the B&W version. The color version isn’t much different, but I like the B&W better. They are both on Flickr. After a bit of rest, we headed out to Asheville and went to Ryan’s to eat.

On Friday, my dad took a half day off, so once both he and mom were home and we’d eaten lunch, we went to the Asheville, NC Nature Center. It’s kind of like a little zoo. After that, my dad wanted to buy each of the kids a book, so we headed to Books A Million. Amie got the first book in “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket and James got “Ironman” which is based on the movie which will be coming out. Christine got a book with a story about a ballerina in it as well as a bunch of crafts like tiaras and how to make your own tu-tu. AnnaBeth got “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein and Noelle got “The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins” by Dr. Suess. The last book is one of my Dad’s favorites and apparently Noelle loves it too as she has had it read to her many times since then. After we got home, I did some laundry and packing up.

On Saturday, I finished packing up and we headed out. Other than bathroom breaks almost every hour, the trip was fairly uneventful. We did have a dense patch of fog on the TN/KY border. Thanks to my dad, the trip home was mostly quiet. Amie read and finished her book and James read more than half of his book. The other girls had their books read to them at least once during that time. Christine spent a lot of time looking at the crafts in her book and planning which ones she wants to do first. We got home in time to get the kids ready for bed.

We had to wait until Monday to pick up the cats. It was weird coming home and not having them here to greet us. Mittens and Charlie have been extra lovey to me since coming home, so I know they missed us too. Charlie didn’t leave the room I was in all day yesterday except to eat or use the litter box. They’re feeding was different there. They probably were fed about the same time in the morning, but they were fed earlier in the afternoon than I normally feed them, so they have been begging for their food a bit early in the afternoons yesterday and today. They’ll get back on their schedules soon, I’m sure.

AND there you have it! It was such an awesome week. I have missed my parents and I’ve missed the mountains and waterfalls and hiking and all. It was so very good to be down there. Now, to get back into our regular homeschool routine.

So far, I’ve uploaded photos to Flickr from before we left. There is one picture of the kids in their Easter outfits that I made… the girls’ dresses and James’ vest. You can’t see the pattern on the vest very well though and you can’t see the strawberries too well on Noelle’s dress. I plan on getting each one individually sometime. Maybe it will be easier to see that way.

I’m working on editing the photos from NC right now. I don’t know how long it will take me. Once I have them done, I’ll write up a post on our vacation down there.

Sarah got up here around 11 am. She helped me out with the kids’ school and lunch. James had tried destroying his homework page to get out of doing his math, but ended up grounded and with much more work to do which I wrote up myself. He stayed home with Jeremy, who was working from home yesterday. After lunch, the two of us took all four girls out to the Nature Center. They really enjoyed watching the turtles because one was actually moving all around its enclosure. If you were next to it’s space and talked, it turned it’s head toward you. Noelle loved that. She made up stories about how it was listening to us and what it was thinking. Once they were done indoors, we took a small half mile hike out to the pond. Christine doesn’t know how to be quiet, so as we got close to the pond, Sarah and I noticed that all the frogs we’d been hearing suddenly got quiet. Later, after we got back away from there, we heard them start back up. They just couldn’t compete with my girls. The hike ends at a few cages that sometimes hold injured animals. Only one of the cages had an animal, a red hawk. The sign said that it was badly injured and can’t be released back into the wild as it wouldn’t be able to catch it’s food, so it is there for life. It is beautiful.

After we were done with the Center, we headed to JoAnn’s Fabric Store to look for some patterns and material. Sarah had a few skirt patterns she is hoping to try and make and I was looking for something for my sister’s baby. She found some pretty material, but it was a bit too expensive for her. I found what I was looking for and can’t wait to start… but I will wait because we are leaving tomorrow to go down to my parents’ house in NC. Anyway, the girls enjoyed looking through the pattern books and asking if I would make them this or if I could make them that. They all want me to make them nightgowns with the nice soft satiny-ish material for summer. We’ll see.

After a quick dinner, we headed to church. We didn’t have adult choir practice last night, so I went and taught the Children’s choir during that time instead and was able to join in with the adults for Bible study later. I haven’t been up there for Adult Bible Study on Wednesday since the beginning of the year and it was a nice change.

After church, I dropped the kids off and Sarah and I went out to a restaurant and shared a chocolate dessert and just talked. It was great. On the way there, who should call, but my friend Michelle! She and Sarah got to meet a while back when I took Sarah to St. Louis and they got along really well, so they are hoping to both get up here at the same time before the end of August (and Sarah heads off to college.) Between the two of them, I got really giggly. It was awesome.

One of my best friends, Sarah, is coming up today and staying the night. She’ll be going to church with us tonight and then she and I are going out for a talking and chocolate time afterwards. I wish my other best friend, Michelle, could come up here sometime too. I don’t think I’ve told her yet that we have our bed couch up here now, so she can come visit when she’s able. I need to tell her. I would love to really have some time with her too. It’s been too long.

I can’t believe it’s been that long since I last posted. I got James’ vest done on Saturday. It had a few hard parts and I got really frustrated, but it came out fine in the end. I need to start on the baby gifts. I’m waiting to hear from my sister what she is having. I think she has an ultrasound today. I’ll probably call her later. Once I hear from her, I’m going to go look for a pattern to make for her new one. I’m really looking forward to this. I also want to make something for Tabitha and Naomi… still thinking about that. I don’t know the next time I’m going to see them. We are heading down to NC to my parents’ house from March 29th to April 5th. I haven’t been down there for 2 years and I’m really, really missing the mountains and all that which I grew up with. I hope to see some friends while we’re down there too. One of them had a baby last year and I’d like to meet little N and see her cousins too who are around my kids’ ages. I don’t know if we’ll be able to get together with them, but I’d like to if it is possible.

In my Bible study time, I’m in Matthew. Going a little slower than normal as I digest the words of Jesus. I really want to figure out what He was talking about in all those Parables and lessons He gave. I know the Sunday School stuff, but I want to go deeper.

In other things… I’ve not felt completely well since I was sick about 3 weeks ago. My voice is definitely not all the way back. I sang a solo in the Easter cantata at church. It was a small one, thankfully, or I’m not sure I could have done it with my voice being like this. Jeremy said that he could tell my voice was straining a bit, but he doubted the others would have noticed as they don’t know me as well as he does. Other than my voice, I’ve just been extra tired and worn out since then. I hope my vacation in NC helps me to get back on track with the relaxation after these last few busy weeks.

James always likes to be able to do what Amie is doing unless it’s too girly. He came back from Grandma’s house on Sunday and found out today that Amie has her little blog, so he wanted me to make one for him as well. I already knew he would, so I had already planned to do it.

He picked out his name for it and all. Meet Little Computer Geek!

I finished my skirt. Well, mostly. It’s done except for the bit of lace that goes at the bottom, but I think I’m going to wait to put that on until later. I need a small break before my next project. My back gets sore because I don’t have a good sewing table and all the cutting, pinning and ironing is done on the floor. The sewing machine itself is on my kitchen table and it stays there because we have no other place to put it. While I’m not working on anything, the sewing “basket” is pushed under the table. At the moment, since I was using it, my sewing stuff is on the coffee table in the living room that is next to the cardboard thingy I use to cover the floor and put the material on while I’m working with it.

We are planning on going down to the house we own tomorrow after church with a trailer and getting a few things that we need… like a working clothes dryer and some twin bed frames and mattresses. I’m not sure what else, but that is all I know of at the moment. Maybe a dresser too. We’ll see what we are able to get.

At church, we have been working on our Easter program. We are using 4 songs from a cantata and two hymns. I think we could have added on another song from the cantata, but it wasn’t up to me and this way, it won’t take quite as long as it may have.

Well, I need to go. I probably need to get out some chicken for dinner. We’re grilling out tonight. Woohoo!

Guess what? Jeremy works for Google now! DoubleClick was acquired by Google. This is so cool.

Also, he got his 2007 review yesterday and today. It was very good. I never doubted it though. He’s my genius man.

They are done! My girls are all happy to know that they have their dresses ready for Easter. I bought material for my skirt and after we pick up James from Grandma’s house on Saturday, I plan on getting the material for his vest. This week, I’m working on my skirt and then next week is the vest. The week after that is a baby gift for a friend’s baby shower at the end of the month. I know, I’m going to be cutting the baby gift close. I may have some time to work on it this week or next week too, so we’ll see. After that, I’m taking a break for just a little while. My sewing machine is earning it’s keep.

The fellowship meeting that Jeremy and I have been working on starting for a while is having a session tonight. It is a time of dinner and discussion of the Bible with a small praise and worship song time afterwards. If anyone is near Calumet City, we are holding it in the First Baptist Church of Calumet City, IL at 6:30 pm tonight.

May I say that is seems a bit unreal to me at this time. We are hosting this and it is what we have felt is our mission for the last year and a half if not a bit longer. Sometimes it felt as if it would never come to be, but we kept praying about it and now it is. God’s timing is always best. It was hard waiting and with it taking such a long time, I sometimes questioned whether it would ever be. (Human nature) This is a place that people can come and relax and ask questions they might have about the Bible or discuss something they have read. We want to make this a weekly thing and sometime when we have a big enough place of our own, we’d like to hold it in our home, which would be a more relaxed atmosphere. Any prayers you offer for this mission of ours is appreciated. I’ll update you all later.

Amie and James have been wanting their own blogs for a while. I set one up for Amie the other day on Vox. She is still a bit unsure of what to post, so her entries are a bit short. I am keeping a close eye on it and any e-mails or neighborhood requests she is sent from it. If you have Vox, you are welcome to add her to your neighborhood to keep tabs on her posts, but don’t be discouraged if she doesn’t add you. I’m only allowing family and friends we know off web on her neighborhood.

http://pixiegirl.vox.com/

I had such a horrible week last week. Stuffy head, which caused bad headaches, especially when I layed down, earaches, and a sore throat. I started feeling better on Thursday finally and got up and did dishes and laundry and got a little bit of packing done. I was happy because of what the weekend had in store for us. On Friday, two of our friends were married. They were some that came to our house every Saturday when we lived down in mid-IL. All the people who used to come to our get-togethers on Saturdays at our house were there. It was so good to see them all. Jeremy’s mom watched the two little ones during the wedding and then I dropped off the other three before heading to the reception. I had planned on taking them with us to the reception, but James had an unforeseen accident and so I decided to leave all three of them there. They got more sleep that way anyway. After the reception, our group of friends, minus the newlyweds, went to another friend’s house and spent a little while talking. Jeremy and I arrived back at his parents’ house around 12:30 am or maybe a bit later. I’m not sure. The next day, we went up to the house we own and talked to the people living there and met with a plumber who will be taking care of the pipes. They were just too old and all of the pipes under the house need replacing. Ouch! He is giving us a reasonable price though and I think it will work out well for all concerned. By the time we left the house, I knew that I’d overdone it. My head was hurting really bad and one of my ears was bothering me again. Driving home was absolutely horrible. We stopped with only a third of the way left to eat and I took some ibuprofen which really helped a lot. Today, I took it easy. We went to church, but I didn’t go up in the choir. I stayed with the girls (James stayed with Grandma and Grandpa). After we got home, I rested a bit and then we went back for a VBS planning meeting. It was a good meeting and we talked through a few things. I got the music DVD so I can start learning the songs and movements that accompany them as I will be leading the music for it. It’s going to be fun. Amie is excited that we got the DVD because she always loves learning these and hates it when they make her wait for VBS and then only have a few days because then she usually forgets them not long afterwards. I love it because it means I have an exercise program to work with. he he he. Ok, so 6 songs may not be enough exercise, but it will be fun no matter what.

Amie’s penpal had a friend who made this meme and she tagged her mom, Crystal, and so I’m doing it now.

RULES:

1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Try not to tag a person someone has already tagged.
3. Tag at least 5 people (if you know that many people).
4. Tell who did it and their URL

1.What do you like about best of Spring? The end of snow for a while

2.What is your favorite season? Late Summer/Early Fall

3. What is a random thing about your house? (the one we own) needs the under house plumbing all replaced

4. What do you like best about blogging? Making friends and being able to write things down to remember them, being able to get things out

5. How old are you? 32 on the outside, forever 20 inside

6. How many rooms are in your house? (the one we rent) 3 bed, 1 bath, kitchen, living room, laundry room… that’s all

7. How many people are in your family (including you)? 7

8. Do you play any instruments? If you do name them? Ooooo, you hit a big one… I play a few instruments. I will list instruments and put either o(wned) or p(layed) after them, some may have both. Flute (o, p), Piano (p), recorder (p), dulcimer (o, p), violin (p), autoharp (o, p), ocarina (o), guitar (o, p), clarinet (p)

I am hoping to find a piano somehow that I can get sometime soon, but I’m not holding out hope, also I’m planning on getting myself, Amie, James, and Christine nice recorders and teaching them how to play them. Someday I’d like to get my own violin and clarinet, but that is in the future. I learned clarinet by using my sister’s high school one some and later I owned one, but lost it in a move. I learned a little violin from some friends when I was pregnant with AnnaBeth and have been wanting one of them ever since.

9. What is your favorite subject in school? when I was in school, it was reading/english, now I’m fascinated by geography and history

10. What is your favorite book of the Bible? Genesis, second to that is Ruth and then Esther

Who to tag? Who to tag? Well, if you do this meme, let me know and I’ll read it and link you here.

I can’t sleep because of an awful headache, a nose that is too full to allow air passage, and ears with water slushing around in them. I figured I’d regale you all with some memories that have come to my mind lately.

I was such a giggler when I was in high school. I giggled back then because I was always nervous. My first day of band with the high school band, when I met Mr. Geros for the first time, was really bad. I couldn’t stop giggling except while we were practicing. He thought it was funny and gave me the nickname of “Gigglebox” which stuck with me (more about the nickname’s usage at a later post.) He called me that the whole time I was under him, through my freshman and sophomore years and later when I visited him during my freshman year in college. He took up where my middle school band teacher had left off with the same enthusiasm for music. After my parents, I credit both of them for my love of music and how it’s developed. We had practice all summer long and a week in August for band camp where we were on the marching field from 8 am to 5 pm with a break for drinks every hour and a half hour for lunch. He was very serious about our music and our marching. He made us a great band with his diligence for details, both in music and how we were doing our marching formations. We won 1st in many of the competitions we were in because of him. He was fun to be around too. He didn’t make it always work, work, work, but tried to make it fun as well. I think that is how we came to be on top. We wanted to do our best for him. He inspired us to strive for the best. He encouraged us so much.

To watch our marching formations, he had to climb up a scrub covered hill with just a small path on it to get to a short tower. He was extremely afraid of snakes and the first time out, he had some of the seniors climb up there beforehand and throw mothballs around the path. When the wind was in the right direction, you could smell them all over the marching field. One time, a group of kids bought one of those rubber snakes and laid it so it looked like it was just crossing the path. This was during my sophomore year on the first day of band camp. He started up that hill and let out this scream, then ran back down and grabbed a box of mothballs that he always kept there and threw the whole box up there. He asked for someone who wasn’t afraid to get up there and see if it was gone. One of the guys climbed up and picked it up and threw it away. Mr. Geros was pretty mad that day, but he had a quick temper and after he yelled about a bit, he was done and we got on with our practice.

He had a bit of a sense of humor too. One day, a girl came in with some pamphlets that she’d been given in health class. She was laughing over them because it was telling some myths of how to not get pregnant. She shared them with a few of us other girls and we were all giggling about them when he came in to start band. This was during concert band practice, the second half of the year. We all sat down and started warming up, but we couldn’t stop little giggles coming here and there. After a few minutes, he looks at me (because I was the big giggler), and asks me what is going on. I started laughing so much, I couldn’t talk. One of the other girls scoops up the pamphlets and hands them to him which sets us all to laughing even more as his face contorted into a slightly embarrassed look. He read a bit, laughed, tore the pamphlet in half and put it in the trash. Then he said to us, (and I quote since I remember this one so well) “The only way to not get pregnant is to keep your mouth shut and your knees together.” All of us girls got quiet for about 5 or so seconds and then ruptured into hard laughter. It was the last thing we expected from him.

Anyway, he really helped me learn more about playing my flute, about how the different instruments tuned to different notes and how they blended together. He gave me my first glimpse into music theory, more than just regular playing would. He must have known how much I was interested in this because when he saw me looking at his score of music with all the parts on it, he took a bit of time to tell me how to read it and how it all worked. I remember going home and putting together a duet (Pachabel’s Canon) for flute and clarinet, so my sister and I could play together and finding that it actually worked. He made sure we went to every football game and that we were second to the cheerleaders in leading the crowd to root for our team. I already watched football with my dad, but didn’t really understand it until this time. It was always a fun experience, even in the rain and cold. It is something I will never forget.

Thank you, Mr. Geros, for those memories.

Yeah, I’m the sick one. No one to be sick with me. All my kids have recovered and are very active. I was well enough yesterday to do what I needed to do at church and then after lunch, I just started feeling kind of dizzy and yucky. I went to bed and have hardly left it since. I am drained of energy, my throat is on fire, and my head is stuffed full of anything but coherent thought. I keep sneezing and I don’t know where Jeremy hid the kleenexes with Vicks on them. I guess I’ll be okay with regular ones. I took some ibuprofen and it helped take care of my headache, but my throat doesn’t want to give up it’s fiery-ness.

In other news, the kids did very well with their special song yesterday. I love how young children are not afraid to sing out loud. I really got a kick out of one little boy who just turned 4. He couldn’t remember all the words, so he kind of slurred the first of the words and came in on the words he knew at the top of his voice. Noelle refused to sing, but she stood up there and swayed. No pushing. I know some kids will be like that and if they don’t want to get up in front of everyone, I’m not going to make them. The children’s Praise Dance team did fairly well too. My kids were kind of nervous about it because they hadn’t been able to practice on Wednesday since they were home sick, but they did good and I’m happy with it. Jeremy was happy to be at church again after missing a lot of last week and enjoyed the evening service Bible Study. I would have loved to have gone. I’m really enjoying our studies in the book of Joshua. I enjoyed reading it myself when I started my “read through the Bible” thing. (I’m through the old testament, just have new to go.) I learned a lot then, but reading it through again with others to share with really helps me to see more. It’s amazing how much more comes out with the perspective of others mixed in with my own. I really missed the time last night, but I doubt I would have enjoyed it with my head feeling like this.

I’m not feeling my best today and tomorrow, I have to sing the Lord’s Prayer as well as lead the children’s choir in singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (Amie has a solo in that, given her by my superior one day when I was absent.) Before dinner, we went for a drive. I get carsick, but this time I started feeling sick after only a few miles… really sick. That’s not normal for me. After we got home and I had something to eat, I started feeling better, but I am still not feeling up to par. Ugh!

In other news, the kids and Jeremy are doing better now. Jeremy went to the dr yesterday and found out that he has bronchitis and got meds. He seems so much better today. I was prepared to take Noelle to the urgent care clinic this morning if she was the same, but I gave her some over the counter stuff that seemed to help last night and she was up and running around and playing today. She took two naps still, but she isn’t coughing or wheezing so much anymore and her energy was higher when she was awake. That was encouraging.

This next weekend, we have friends who are getting married on Feb. 29 (they thought it would be a cool anniversary, but I like being able to celebrate EVERY year. *smile*) I’m looking forward to this since I’ll see many friends whom I haven’t talked to much or seen since May when Jeremy and I first came up to Chicago-land. These two friends were some we had over at our house almost every Saturday before we moved. I really miss having that fun time with friends. When we started, I didn’t even know most of them very well, but by the time we moved, I considered them all good friends and I feel the absence in my life that Saturdays filled. My extreme extroverted self really enjoyed that time since I couldn’t get out much with my 5 kids to care for. So, to J and M… I wish you all the best. I know you will have a great, God-centered marriage.

But I’ve been so busy. I’ve really gotten into our church’s music program and am now the leader of the children’s choir and the assistant director of the adult choir. Going through my repertoire of music to decide what I want to do with each group as well as making sure I know the songs fairly well has taken up a bit of time. Now, we also have Easter coming up and I was given a solo to learn. Our cantata books came in late, so we are just starting our practice for this, but that still gives us 4 more practices which is more than enough for me to learn my part. I’ve been listening to the CD I was given for the last few days. I love the songs that we are singing from the book. We are only doing 4 of the songs out of the cantata and then an Easter hymn. I wish we were doing at least one more, because I like the fifth song in the book a lot, but that’s okay. Maybe I can use it for a special at some other time.

On the homefront, we have 5 sick kids and one sick Daddy. I may be coming down with it as well. My head is bothering me and my throat is a bit rough. I hope that once I’m able to get a decent amount of sleep that I’ll feel better and won’t actually get sick. My nights have been spent comforting AnnaBeth who gets nightmares easily when she’s not feeling well and cuddling with Noelle to hold her up because she has been having trouble breathing while laying down. She came into our bed last night after a while and used my arm to help prop up her upper body a bit and slept better, but with her there, I couldn’t sleep. (BUT my hand fell into a deep sleep… ouch!) Also, Jeremy has been tossing and turning and keeps pulling most of the blankets over to his side. He slept much better last night after I dosed him up with Nyquil, but he still tossed a bit and took all the blankets over to his side when I got out to get Noelle. I had to pull them back, but at least they were warm.

Also, I’m working on sewing those dresses for the girls and a vest for James. That seems to take up a good amount of time right now.

Anyway, that is all that is going on right now. I’m feeling so busy and worn out.

That’s what I’m going to be doing for a little while… sewing. I went out and bought material for dresses for each of the girls. I found a pattern to make James a vest and a skirt pattern that I like for myself. I also found a capri and top pattern for the girls for summer. I plan on getting the material for those later. Amie found a quilt package that has ballerinas on some of the material that she liked, so she bought half of it. I am still in the process of washing the material I bought, but Amie’s came pre-washed with instructions to NOT wash before cutting and sewing, so we started on hers. We cut out all the pieces and sewed together a few strips. We’ll sew two more strips together today. I’m not sure when exactly we’ll get done, but she’s enjoying this even after getting her fingers pricked multiple times while pinning two pieces of material together. As soon as the dress material is out of the dryer, I’ll start on cutting them out. These are the first dresses I’m attempting. I hope I don’t have to pull out too many seams.

We went down and got some things from our old house and talked to the people who are moving in. The wife is a friend of mine and her two older children are friends of my kids. We still own the house, but we are doing a contract with them. We won’t have all our things (that we’re taking) out of the house for another two weeks, but they are okay with that. They have all our stuff put into the dining room for now as they are moving some of their stuff in. We are leaving a few things, like our queen bed frame and box springs. We already bought a new mattress and have a new bed frame that doesn’t need springs picked out to get sometime soon, so we didn’t want to have to move that one. A few of the dressers are staying there as well. They needed them, so they are excited about not having to buy them. We got our floor lamp up here. That makes it so much better in our living room up here… or maybe not, since I can see the dirt so much easier. LoL Just kidding. I also grabbed a small reading lamp because I needed it for our bedroom. I’m not exactly sure what else Jeremy grabbed, but I know he got enough to load up the van (which couldn’t be a lot since we already have it mostly loaded with 5 kids.) I enjoyed talking with my friend and holding her 2 mo old baby and the kids had so much fun playing with their friends and showing them the “clubhouse” they had set up when we had lived there. It is in a small shed-like building in the backyard. We never stored anything in it because the kids liked playing in it. It doesn’t have a door on it, so I could watch them playing in it from the kitchen window. I guess it will stay a clubhouse for now. My kids are happy since they painted the bench that is sitting in there.

Anyway, just pray for this situation.

Well, for now. This last weekend, we got out and went to Walmart and then walked around the mall. It was good to get out and stretch my legs and get some exercise. It started snowing about the time we started home and it’s been snowing ever since then except for part of Sunday when it was too cold to snow. It’s not been a lot, but it’s enough for me. I’d like some warmer weather and a glimpse of grass sometime. We are supposed to head down to our house (the one we own) this weekend and get a few things and talk to someone about it. (Prayer needed here.) That will be a little something out of the normal. I like having a schedule for school and chores, but I also like having these out of the norm times or I get kind of bored.

That was what Amie said when I said something about her doing her homemaking schoolwork. She made hotdogs for dinner. Jeremy cooked beanless chili and I made homemade french fries and chedderwurst. After dinner, she mixed up some brownies which are in the oven right now. She did these all herself including putting them in the oven which is something she has been fearful of. The only problem we have is that the nob on our oven is gone, so we have a bit of trouble figuring out if we have the correct temperature. I realized it was not high enough when we took a check just a minute ago, so I have adjusted it and we’ll see how it goes.

Jeremy and I have discussed that when the kids are old enough, they will have at least one day every other week in which they must plan and fix a meal. Because Amie is showing such an interest in cooking and baking, we are talking about letting her have one day a month right now to do this. She has learned how to make hotdogs, mac n cheese, tuna casserole, and is interested in learning more, so this will give her a chance.

EDIT: Yummy! They came out so delicious!

until another niece or my first nephew is born! Jill is pregnant again! Woohoo! I’m so excited. Pray for a wonderful pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Please, melt the 8+ inches of snow still left outside here. I am tired of shoveling our sidewalk and having snow jackets, hats, mittens, scarves, and boots all over my living room drying out. My kids all have two pairs of hats and mittens, which is good because they would go out and play and then come in and take off the wet/cold stuff and then later when we needed to go somewhere, they would have a dry pair to put on. I made them use the store bought ones to play because they would get really dirty and the ones made by my mom for when we were going to church or the store or wherever. They would still throw snowballs and stuff when outside, but the mittens didn’t get all dirty and they helped keep hands warm until our van would heat up (if there was enough time for that, most stuff around here is within 5 miles of us and only takes up to 15 minutes at the most to get to.)

The kids have enjoyed the snow and aren’t wanting it to go away. They were excited last night when it was snowing again (5 inches came down in 3 hours on top of the 9 inches we already had). It is pretty when it’s coming down, but I just don’t like being stuck here at the house so much. This morning, I refused to drive Jeremy to the train station because I am not one who enjoys driving on snow. He drove himself, so I’m without the van, but we have only had one vehicle most of the time we’ve been married, so it is something I’m used to. Anyway, I had no where to go right now, unless I wanted to do the last of our grocery shopping with all five kids and that doesn’t appeal to me at the moment.

On a better note, Sunday was mostly a good day. I enjoyed some good discussion in Sunday School. I did better this time with leading the congregational singing and directing the choir special. I was more prepared this time than I had been a few weeks ago. The choir director had been sick, so I was ready in case she still was (she was feeling fine, but had no voice yet.) The pastor had a really great sermon on Luke 4:1-13 (Jesus in the desert being tempted by Satan) and Hebrews 4:15-16 which I wrote a post on a few weeks ago. Later, after a lunch at the Chinese restaurant and a rest time, we were back at church for another good feeding of Biblical teaching. We are studying Joshua on Sunday nights and a book on leadership (will have to find out the title for you.) We were in the book last night and talked about our motivation for being leaders in the church and how we handled different things that came up. We didn’t make it through the whole chapter we were on, but that was okay. The fellowship of talking about it was refreshing. It is good to get this. The down part of Sunday was the Patriots loss of the Super Bowl. *sigh* Oh well. It’s just football. I wish I could have seen the game. It sounded like a great game and since we don’t have TV, Jeremy pulled up a radio stream on the internet for me to listen to. James was trying to listen and figure out what was going on, but couldn’t follow it too much. After the game, I got on Facebook and did a bit of racing my (fluff)pet, Little Samson. He had won a bronze trophy now, so that made up for the Super Bowl disappointment.

Today, I’ve just done regular stuff, dishes, laundry, and so on. I also had to go out and shovel the walk of it’s snow with slush underneath, so the mail lady can walk up to our mailbox easily. The slush was heavy, so I guess this was my shoulder exercises for today. I can’t do my weights after that or my shoulders will be overworked. Anyway, there you are… an update to today.

The last few days have been kind of crazy. Nothing out of the usual, mostly nothing anyway. I’ve just been going from a happy, bouncy, silly girl to a thoughtful, slightly depressed, and wanting to be lazy (can’t be lazy or dishes and laundry would take over the house) girl. Right now, I’m on the up swing of whatever is going on. Changes are going on around here (prayer appreciated) which are affecting me some, but I also think the weather is affecting me as well. I’ve not been out of the house except for church and with Sarah on Sunday and church yesterday. Today, Jeremy decided we would go out to eat, which was good, but I really wanted to go somewhere afterwards to walk around and just stretch my legs. This tiny house is getting to me in these winter days. I am not a cold weather person, so I won’t go outside to walk right now. I can’t handle the cold for long enough, plus my knee really bothers me when I get cold and I can barely walk. Inside the house, it bothers me enough to give me an obvious limp because of the cold drafts that come through almost every window. My knee needs a warm place to stretch out and walk or it will feel worse after a while.

Yesterday, we got to church as one of the first ones there and was informed that the choir director was sick, so as assistant director, I was to take over. I thought this was interesting since I’d brought one of my karaoke praise and worship CDs with me and so I taught them a song from there. We went over a few songs that we’d been working on and we listened to one of the songs we will be doing for our Easter cantata. We couldn’t sing it though because we don’t have our music books yet. Once the adult choir was done, I helped the woman who is singing the special on Sunday and then I went downstairs and did the children’s choir. It is supposed to be ages 3-7 and 8-11, but since only Amie and James are turning up for the older group, the head of the children’s department told me to just stick them with the little ones. The reason we split them up in the first place was because a few of the other older kids had balked at being with the younger kids, so we had arranged separate choirs, but no one is coming to rehearsals, so we have put them together for now. Neither Amie or James likes this though since it is hard to sing songs that are more than one or two verses with the little kids. I sent home some papers for some of the kids to sing with their parents. The parents should know two of the three songs we are doing, so that should help. One of the songs has multiple verses for them to learn (since I had it picked out for the older choir) and I know the younger ones are struggling with it, but I think that with enough work that it will come through okay.

Well, now it is quiet in the house and the kids are asleep. I may rest and read for a little bit before I drift off.

and his family. His Grandma Cross died 2 days ago. He really loved her and went to see her in the nursing home where she lived quite often.

I have some really great friends.

This week, I got phone calls from two friends who I haven’t talked to in a while. One needed to vent a bit and knew I would lend an ear and the other just wanted to share something funny that had happened that day, but it was so good to hear from both of them. I miss having real friend nearby who I can not just joke around with, but also talk serious with, and have a good time out where we all get our troubles unloaded and listened to at the beginning and then we just act crazy the rest of the day. I have missed having a girls day/night out. I got one today though. My friend, Sarah, drove up and went to Sunday School and Church with us. The sermon was really good, about Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. Then we all went to Wendy’s to eat. Jeremy took the kids home after lunch and Sarah and I went up to IKEA to find something she was looking for. We talked and laughed and sang and joked around. It was really good. The tension headache that I’d been getting from stress eased up and decided I wasn’t worth bothering, so it left. I am feeling so much better now. I think the last time I really got away from my kids and had a day out with a friend was at Thanksgiving time. Jeremy and I had our last date at Thanksgiving too and we are both in desperate need of another one sometime, but I don’t think it will be happening anytime soon. We don’t know of anyone up here that would babysit for us.

I also have some great friends here online too. I may not be able to ever really meet some of you, but I want you to know how much I appreciate you. So, to all of my readers… I love you all and I am so glad that I am able to connect with you so easily. To Phisch and Dana, my first readers… you have encouraged me and laughed and shared your lives with me for such a long time. We’ve been pregnant close to the same times and that experience has really brought us together To Martin and Melody… I love that I have been able to reconnect with you after so many years and this time, we are staying in touch. To my mom… I miss you very much and am so glad I have such wonderful support from you. To everyone… I pray for anyone who comes across my blog. There is never a stranger to me, just friends who read and don’t comment. I know there are some of you out there who don’t ever comment and may never have left a comment on here and that’s okay.

AnnaBeth walked into our room this morning with one of her eyes half closed because it’s swollen. She doesn’t know what happened, she just woke up like that. She said her eye and that side of her nose is sore. I think she’ll have quite a shiner in a few days. This is the first black eye in our house.

First, a small update. My brother-in-law, Rob, was up in Chicago today for a job interview (pray for him and my sister and their family concerning this) and afterwards, he came down this way and visited with us a bit. Instead of him taking the train back up to the airport, I drove him. It was nice because I always like chatting with him and we didn’t have the kids interrupting during the drive. Plus, I was able to have some time to myself on the way back where I turned up the music and sang with the songs on the radio. I am really enjoying ShineFM up here in Chicago. Good station. It’s mostly at the south part of Chicago though. When we go up toward the west/northwest, I have to turn the station to K-Love which doesn’t come through in the southern suburbs, but that’s no big deal. Same kind of songs on both stations.

I’m feeling better, but I am stressing about some things that have to do with our house we are trying to sell and stuff. The stressing has given me a headache and now I’m having trouble sleeping. I played a few games of Scramble (game like Boggle) on Facebook, but that didn’t help much this time, so I think I’ll just do this meme thingy that Crystal had posted on her blog.

Four things about me (in 12 different categories) that you may or may
Not have known–in any particular order.

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. Nursery help - from the time I was 14 to around 17, I was paid to help in different church nurseries
2. Librarian assistant or somthing like that - while at Missouri Baptist College (now University), I did work in the library and totally loved it.
3. Chick-Fil-A - My only full time job that I worked starting the summer before Jeremy and I got married and quit when I lost our baby.
4. Wal-mart - cashier from 9pm to 1am. When James was a baby. Jeremy worked days and I worked nights and napped when the kids did.

Four movies I’ve watched more than once (I could list a whole lot more than four! How about four that I like to watch over and over):

1. The Princess Bride
2. Narnia - The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (totally looking forward to Prince Caspian)
3. Lord of the Rings (Any of them)
4. Ever After (It satisfies the romantic in me sometimes)

Four Places I have lived (Hmmm, another one which I could list many more than four):

1. Tennessee (GO VOLS!) - Rutledge and then Kingsport
2. Lake George, NY
3. Missouri - O’Fallon and Elsberry
4. Illinois - Alton, Sullivan, and now Chicago

Four TV. Shows that I watch (thanks to Netflix):

1. Psych
2. Monk
3. CSI: Miami
4. Law and Order: Criminal Intent (you don’t think I like detective/murder mystery stuff, do you? Oh, I just found Columbo on Netflix, I look forward to seeing those again.)

Four favorite pastime activities:

1. singing, listening to music, playing my instruments, dancing with my kids
2. having a girls night out with other girls who are prone to giggle when guys aren’t around
3. reading
4. internet stuff… blog, twitter, facebook

Four places I have been (another more than 4 one) :

1. Massachussetts, to see my Grandparents
2. Indiana, to see my other Grandparents or aunts, uncles, and cousins or for Indy 500 time trials
3. Canada, with my Dad’s family, it was beautiful
4. National Parks - Yellowstone, Yosemite, Smoky Mountains (the mountains are my favorites)

Four People who e-mail me regularly:

1. Melody
2. My Mom
3. My sister, Jill
4. My aunt Trish (we talk cat stuff all the time as well as updates on our kids)

Four of my favorite foods:

1. PIZZA
2. chocolate
3. Beef and Broccoli stirfry with rice… Jeremy makes it so very delicious
4. Fajitas, steak is best, but chicken is good too.

Four places I would like to visit:

1. Washington and Oregon (never been up there, want to see the mountains there)
2. New Zealand
3. Ireland/Scotland
4. St Edward Island (Anne of Green Gables series are some of my favorite books)

Four friends I think will respond:

1. ??
2. ??
3. ??
4. ??

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:

1. a visit with my sister in the fall
2. sell our house??? (please pray for this one)
3. a visit to my parents, hopefully in the spring
4. ????? (I know there should be more, but my brain is stressing and not feeling too UP at the moment, sorry)

Four things I am not looking forward to in the coming year:

1. another move, I hate moving, I just want to find somewhere permanent
2. dr’s appointments… I am afraid of going to the dr to find out what is causing some of my sight problems
3. being lonely (still haven’t found anyone nearby that I can hang with or talk to face to face when I get stressed and I need that so badly, especially right now.)
4. changing out the clothes in the spring and again in the fall… really crazy with five kids

My aunt and uncle got an e-mail from the great-nephew of my Great-Aunt Pearl. It is kind of hard to read because of the way it was translated, but I think it says that she died back in September at the age of 96.

Who is Great-Aunt Pearl? She is someone who I like to tell about in church.

My Great-Grandparents (Bromley) were missionaries to China in the 1920s (I think). While there, they adopted Pearl Hu and brought her back to the states when they came back. During World War II, the USA became very suspicious of anyone of German, Chinese, or Japanese descent and because of this, she was sent back to China. When she arrived there, they saw her as a Christian and thought of her as a spy for the USA, so she was thrown into prison. We are not sure of details, but we think she was tortured for her faith, but we know she stood strong. After she got out, she starting writing letters to the family again and continued for a while until she could no longer do so. I remember getting letters on that thin paper from her sometimes. Anyway, she had a church there. The e-mail received mentioned that the church there prayed and sang hymns for her after she died as it was her wish. Also, her Great-nephew signed off with “All Praise to God our Lord, Saviour and King”. I know that when my cousin and other friends have gone to China, they have always used code to tell about God’s work there just in case. This e-mail had no code. It was right out there. Oh, the legacy that my Great-Grandparents left with her and that she has carried on and left to others. Isn’t it wonderful to see how God has worked through some missionaries so long ago? They followed His call to go to China and now we know that people are being saved still because of them and her. See the long term results of what happens when we follow God’s will? This excites me so much. Someday, I will finally meet her in Heaven and I will tell her that I looked up to her and told her story to kids who said that they were ridiculed for being a Christian in their schools. They don’t suffer as she did and thankfully, they won’t have to. We have a freedom here that China doesn’t have. Rejoice in that fact.

I am not called to be a missionary out there, but I am a missionary here. I am trying to do as I am called to do and at the moment, it is right here at home in Chicago. I don’t know how far my legacy will go, but that is not what I should care about. I should only care to make sure I am in His will and He will take care of other things. Thank you God for this reminder of how You work. I really needed it right now.

My throat is doing better, but still a little sore on one side. I still get a little dizzy and have had some bad chills, but I’m not getting the hot times today. Jeremy said I was burning up last night. With our memory foam mattress, it takes the heat and spreads it out in the mattress, which is nice on these cold days. He said I must have put out a lot of heat because his side was already nice and warm when he first got in and I hadn’t been over there. My head doesn’t have so much pain either, but I still have a bit of thrumming at my temples.

Anyway, that is what is going on with me.

James finally got his big birthday present yesterday. Jeremy took him out to get haircuts, but they couldn’t find a place where they could get their hair done, so they went and got James his Lego Bionicles kit. It has two things in it, the robot guy thingy and his pet. James put the pet together yesterday and is working on getting the guy together now. It’s quite interesting.

Well, I’ll talk to you all later.

I am sick today and have barely gotten out of bed because of how I’m feeling. I keep going from feeling extremely cold to extremely hot. My throat is sore and my voice is barely here. My eyes are watery and have trouble focusing even with my glasses on and they want to close and rest. Mostly though, my head just doesn’t feel good at all. I feel like I have cotton in my ears and my brain is too slow to keep up with any conversation, especially one with Noelle who inserts made-up names which I can’t understand under normal situations. Along with all that is the dull ache that won’t go away in my forehead and temples.

Thankfully, Jeremy has the day off and he is helping the kids with their chores and keeping them mostly occupied. Noelle and AnnaBeth have been in here a few times to talk or sometimes I think they just want to check on me. They come in and look at me then head back out and close the door. I think I’ll have each of the kids come in and talk to me for a little while so I can spend a little time with them and tell them I appreciate the way they are trying to keep it all nice and quiet (well, a low roar) in the house.

Anyway, I thought I’d tell you that I found a cute little jumper pattern at Walmart that goes from size 3 to 8. Noelle is size 3 and Amie and Christine are size 8, so it should work for all of my girls. James asked what I might make for him sometime and I told him that I’d look for a vest pattern, then his only nice white shirt that he wears almost every week to church on Sundays would have some different things to wear with it. I found a Jo Ann’s Fabric store about 10 or so miles away, so I want to check it out once I’m better.

Just before Christmas, I bought my first sewing machine. I figured out how to do a bobbin and thread the machine and only had to call my mother-in-law to ask how to get the thread from the bobbin up to the other thread. The book showed how to put the bobbin in and then just said to thread it up, but didn’t explain how to. I had some old t-shirts that none of us were wearing and I usually would have thrown away. Instead, I cut them up and tried out a few different stitches and then made a little bag for each of the kids out of them. I had enough left to make bags for Naomi and Tabitha too, which I took and put into their stockings. Tabitha didn’t use it at the time, but Naomi seemed to like it and put all her presents that would fit into that little bag. Both Amie and James had made stuff with Grandma Wall on her sewing machine, so they had wanted to make stuff for the sibling they had drawn in our little family. This was the whole reason I finally bought the machine since I’d been wanting to for a while, but just kept putting it off. Amie made a pillow out of a t-shirt for Noelle and James made a rice heating pad in the shape of a cat’s head for Amie because she kept taking my rice heating pad and she collects cat stuff. When I bought the material for James, he wondered why I bought 2 yards when only a quarter of a yard would have been enough for his project. The material is a somewhat thick red cloth that is slightly fuzzy-soft on the outside. Well, he found out. I’ve been making a lot of rice heating pads. Each of the kids have a small one to heat up at night to help warm up their bed and I made one for Jeremy because he also kept taking mine. I still have some left, so I made one today for my mother-in-law. It is E shaped, except without the middle line, so she can drape it over her shoulders. I have also cut out and mostly made another one (about 6×12″) for Jeremy to give to a co-worker for his pregnant wife. I don’t have anymore rice though, so I have to pick some up before I can finish it. I’ve been thinking of seeing if I can find more of that material in different colors and selling them, but I don’t know if there is a market for them.

Edit: Went to Walmart for essentials… laundry soap, trash bags, and Dr. Pepper and decided to stop by the craft department to see if I could find the material again. I remember telling my mom that it was kind of like flannel, but a bit thicker. Guess what? It’s called super flannel. They had a few other colors and some prints too. Most of the prints were baby style though since they will most likely be used on blankets. I think pastel balloons would be a cute heating pad though.

My wonderful boy, James, is 9 years old today. He is usually very sweet and helpful, but he has his times of temper which he has put as a prayer request at church. He got a bit upset the other day and I reminded him that he put his temper at the cross. Our church has a cross with hooks on it to hang prayer request papers on. That is the request he put on it. If you would be so kind as to pray with us about this, I’m sure he would appreciate it. He is working hard on it, but he has his times of trouble like all of us do. He’s going to have to wait until tomorrow for his big birthday present from us and for his birthday dinner because Jeremy is paid then, but he’s okay with that. I can’t really get his gift very well. I’m not finding what I really want to get him at Walmart or Target, but I saw it at the Lego store in Chicago, so I told Jeremy what I wanted to get him and the amount that we spend. It really helped that he got his Lego magazine a few days ago, so he was talking about the different kinds and sets and pretty much told Jeremy what he would really like to have if he can save up enough money. Jeremy just looked and me and winked.

I love this boy that God gave me. He has such a big heart in him. Happy Birthday, James, my wonderful son.

Yesterday, we had a small party for James and Noelle’s birthday. I like doing it in January because it doesn’t get caught in the middle of all the Christmas stuff, plus James’ birthday is in this month as well. I had invited a few different families but only Jeremy’s parents were able to come. That was okay though. James’s cub scout meeting ran a bit late and also it was okay for us to just relax and talk and do everything whenever we felt like it instead of making sure we were staying within the time limits. James got some Geomag sets and a set of three Bibleman videos. Noelle got her own blanket (her first very own blanket, she’s a happy girl) and a Prayer Circle Friend lion. The recordable prayer button was messed up, so I need to take it back to the store to see if I can get a better one. As soon as they opened them, they got to work with them. James opened up his sets and started figuring out how to make different things with it and Noelle put the filling into her lion (she loved that she was able to put most of the filling in herself). I haven’t sewed it up yet, but I will soon. At the moment, I have it temporarily closed off so the fluff can’t get out. We may put extra fluff in or not. She hasn’t quite decided. They say to put the prayer button in with the fluff before closing it up, but the place to close it up makes kind of like a pocket inside the animal that velcros shut and I think I’m going to just put it into that pocket so I can take it out and interchange it with a pre-recorded one (maybe the Lord’s Prayer one) or record a new prayer at a later time or just take it out if it gets pushed too much and becomes annoying.

I’m back, but I may not be back to my normal daily posting yet. We’ll see.

Let’s see… where did I leave off? Oh, yes, Christmas at my sister’s house.

A few days before we left for Jill’s house, the big kids found out that we had powerpoint on our computer. They decided to have a church service in our home. James led singing, Christine took up the offering, and Amie read from the Bible. Her message was about when Gabriel visited Joseph’s dreams and told him of the birth of Jesus and how Joseph heeded God’s message and stayed faithful to Mary.

On Sunday, Dec. 23, our church had it’s Christmas service. The choir sang a bunch of songs, Pastor read different passages from the Christmas story through out the service, and the children’s choir and Praise Dancers joined us for Silent Night. I sang a solo of “The First Noel” and my little Noelle was in her Daddy’s arms waving at me. We left for Jill’s house as soon as church was over and we dropped off the presents which the kids got from church at our house. The drive down was windy and a bit snowy. The weather cleared up the further south we traveled and we got to see a beautiful sunset. We got to their house around dinner time and settled down to help finish off some yummy leftovers to make room in the fridge for the Christmas leftovers there were going to be on the following day. On Christmas Eve, Jill, my Dad, and I took the kids to a mall there and let them play around a bit. It was fun. Jeremy and Rob (Jill’s hubby) stayed home and cooked the Christmas dinner. My Dad and Jill went to pick up Mom from the airport afterwards and I got to drive my sister’s new big SUV back to her house with all the little kids. I like driving big vehicles. The little ones went down for a much needed nap. Jeremy and Rob did a great job on our meal. It was really good. The little girls really enjoyed what they had. I enjoyed playing with Tabitha and Naomi and seeing the present that Jill got for Rob. I also enjoyed using my Dad’s new camera which meant that I didn’t get as many pictures with my own camera as I would normally. The kids were happy to spend time with their Grandma and Papa. I also really enjoyed just talking with my mom and sister about Grandma. It really helped. We went to the Christmas Eve service at Jill’s church. On Christmas morning, the kids woke up to find a tree with lots of presents underneath. BUT first things first, we had another church service. This is a traditional thing at our house. Before presents, we celebrate Jesus. James led Christmas hymns and Amie read the Bible again. Christine didn’t just take offering this time, she also told about why Jesus came to earth as a baby and later died on the cross. The offering was later put into the Lotty Moon offering at Jill’s church. We left Jill’s house on the 26th and came on home. The kids opened up the presents at our house on the morning of the 27th. We went down to Jeremy’s parents house for the day on New Years Eve. Noelle and AnnaBeth stayed down there. Since then, I’ve been trying to get the kids back into the school routine. We’ve been off schedule since Thanksgiving with only maybe three or four days of getting some schoolwork done. The kids complained a bit at first, but are getting back into it.

We did take Tuesday off and took a trip up to the west suburbs to see Amie’s penpal, Emily and her mom, sister, and brother. We also met baby Lee and his mom. That was fun and though I was really nervous, it was still really good to see them finally and talk. I didn’t get any photos of Sara, Lee’s mom, but I meant to. That’s what nerves does to me. I met Crystal, Emily’s mom, through her blog and she introduced me to Sara from there by directing me to Lee’s blog. It’s so nice to meet these women and children that I’ve been reading about. Not long after starting to read Crystal’s blog, I thought of how much Emily and Amie had in common and asked if they could write e-mails back and forth and they’ve been doing it ever since. All the kids got along really well, though James got upset when Amie and Emily wanted to be alone for a little while, so instead of leaving them along, he bugged them. None of my kids wanted to leave when we did. They all insisted that we come back the next day or at least on Saturday. I had to break their little hearts and tell them that we’d get back up there as soon as we could, but not that quickly.

Hmmm, what else have we done? I took James for a day out and Jeremy took Amie into Chicago. Not at the same time, of course, but I think they both enjoyed their quality time. I took James to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets. GREAT movie!!! He totally loved it and I did too. I don’t know what Jeremy and Amie did, but I know she was fairly happy about her time with Daddy when she got back. Oh, and we got the movie, Cars, from Netflix and saw it for the first time. I laughed so much, especially at the tractors. It’s a movie we may buy sometime.

Anyway, there you go. Up to today. Enjoy the other pictures that I didn’t link to on Flickr and have a good day. I’ll be back into my routine soon enough. hopefully.

In the meantime, I’ve uploaded some pics onto Flickr. I’m planning on editing more today and putting them up tonight or tomorrow.

EDIT: I got them all uploaded. I plan on trying to update tomorrow.

I know that I’m not blogging like I usually do. I’ve just had a rough and very busy month and all. Tomorrow, we are heading to Jeremy’s parents’ house for the day. We’re going to let the big kids stay up a little late tomorrow night and play some games. I wanted to watch a movie with Jeremy tomorrow night, but couldn’t find one I wanted to see at Walmart and I can’t get a new one from Netflix by then.

Anyway, I’ll try and resume my normal blogging schedule soon. I have so much I want to tell you all, but I’ve just not felt like talking much yet.

We had a wonderful Christmas at Jill’s house. I am so exhausted now. I’ll talk to you all later.

We’re leaving for my sister’s house tomorrow. We’ll be back on Wednesday. No internet during that time. I’ll miss you all, but I’m going to be glad to have family around. My mom will be flying in from Massachusetts on Christmas Eve. My dad is up in Indiana visiting his mom (Grandma Bromley) who is in the hospital (nothing serious thankfully) and he’ll be driving in from there.

So, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. May God give you wonderful insight into the real reason for the season. Read the first chapters of Matthew and Luke and think on them. We will be doing that on Christmas morning, before the presents because Jesus comes first. My kids are in charge of how the “church service” (as they call it) will go. I’m impressed with what they have.

My mom just called. My Grandma Martin has gone home to be with the Lord. My mom said that the family has been singing almost through the whole hymnal everyday. Around 4:00, they started “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” and Uncle Johnny said he was watching her and her last breath was taken when they sang the words, “Lead me home”.

Wow! What an amazing way to go to Heaven, to be ushered in with that song and all the love of her children and husband and other family around her.

I’m sure the family will appreciate any prayers.

I will have to wait to tell about her. I can’t do it right now.